A Governing Body

We need to understand the kind of authority an Ekklesia held. In order to fully grasp what Jesus meant when he used the word. When the Greek city-state found their governments had become too corrupt and oppressive, they would call for Ekklesia an assembly outside of the civil authorities of the city. If enough people came out and refused to exist or refused to accept the existing centralized civil authority, the government would collapse. Due to the Ekklesia’s authority, civil leaders could be replaced and ensure the Ekklesia rule was enforced. Wow, that's pretty strong authority. Remember, Jesus said his Ekklesia would forbid some things and permit some things. There are some people we should forbid from holding office. There are others. Who? We should permit.

Thayer Greek Lexicon defines Ekklesia “an assembly of people convened at the public place of counsel for the purpose of deliberating.” Deliberating means think through things very carefully. The Ekklesia is to think through culture standards and then raise their voice by voting on those standards. It is not biblical not to vote, but Godless politicians have been placed into office because believers sit at home and don't vote. The Romans, who were the governing power when Christ made the statement in Matthew 16:18, “¹⁸ And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

The Romans also had Ekklesia don't think Jesus didn't know it. He knew it very well. When Rome would conquer a territory, they would send in a group of administrators, legislators, or regulators of culture. How did they regulate?

• They regulated by shaping the culture.

“Here is what the culture is going to be allowed to do.”

• They shape the educational system of the region.

“Here is what you will teach.”

• They administered laws, social standards, and taxes.

The idea was to make that province look like Rome. Reform it to be a little Rome and make it compatible with Roman rule. They call that Governing Council the Ekklesia. The Jewish people were under Roman Ekklesia too. Don't think Jesus didn't realize that. Now we have a more complete context for what Jesus is saying. We see what Ekklesia meant at that time, and we see that the first mention of the church within the context of the Kingdom of God. So, the contextual definition is this: “The Kingdom of God’s governing, ruling body is the Ekklesia, established by King Jesus to look after his Kingdom on Earth.” We have to get that. The ruling Kingdom is not for a future time in heaven because it won't be necessary there.